[According2RecentPollsAirIsGood]

And yet the one candidate who was serious about eliminating it

I'm still waiting to hear how he plans to repeal the 16th amendment while simultaneously ushering in a completely new and different tax system without 1) causing chaos, 2) ending up with a sales and income tax.

I'm not saying it's completely impossible. I'm saying that if he's serious about what he says, he needs to address these extremely difficult questions. He talks as if he can just wave his hand and poof!, goodbye IRS. I always saw his Fair Tax talk as pure pandering, no substance.

[Hugin]

Repealing the 16th Amendment is not required to get rid of the income tax and replace it with the Fair Tax. It authorizes an income tax, it doesn't require one. I know the argument that eventually you would end up with both, but that is simply a way supporters of the Flat Tax to raise the bar so high that it becomes impossible. Yes, Congress could reenact an income tax. But the Flat Tax could be repealed at any time also. It would be politically much easier to raise marginal rates again than it would be to reimpose income and payroll taxes once they had been eliminated. In any case, ultimately the people will get what they demand from their elected officials.

Repealing the 16th would be a “nice to have”, but not doing so is not a legitimate reason to rule the Fair Tax out.